Julius Schniewind

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Julius Daniel Schniewind (born May 28, 1883 in Elberfeld (today in Wuppertal ), † September 7, 1948 in Halle (Saale) ) was a German Protestant theologian of the Confessing Church .

Life

After attending grammar school in Elberfeld , he studied Protestant theology in Bonn, Halle, Berlin and Marburg. His academic teachers were Paul Feine (1859–1933), Karl Heim , Friedrich Loofs and Martin Kähler . In 1910 he acquired the licentiate degree in Halle (corresponds to today's theological doctorate) with a thesis on The Concepts of Word and Gospel with Paul and taught there until 1914 as a private lecturer for the New Testament (NT). That year he completed his habilitation on The Parallel Pericopes with Lukas and Johannes . Until 1915 he was the inspector of the Silesian Konvikt . During the First World War , Schniewind was a field preacher .

On May 7, 1919, he married Anna Alice Wanda Eveline Countess v. Elberfeld. Keyserling (born May 5, 1884 in Telsen (Kurland); died May 23, 1955 in Halle (Saale). They had two sons: 1) Julius Burchard (born December 14, 1920 in Halle (Saale); d. February 1943 in the military hospital in Halle. 2) Paul Werner Konrad (born April 13, 1923 in Halle (Saale); died December 25, 2011 in Ballrechte-Dottingen near Freiburg im Breisgau.

In 1919 he was appointed associate professor, in 1921 he returned to Halle for a teaching position on New Testament and patristic philology and literary studies, where he received his doctorate in 1925. theol. received his doctorate. In 1927 he moved briefly to Greifswald as full professor for the New Testament . In 1929 he was appointed to the Albertus University in Königsberg , where he was in lively exchange with Günther Bornkamm , Hans Joachim Iwand and Martin Noth . In 1933 Schniewind, Iwand and Bornkamm began the fight for the Confessing Church (BK) in East Prussia. They managed to involve the Bahnau brotherhood. Thus the faculty in Königsberg became a focus for the theological training of the BK. Schniewind came in 1933 for Pastors .

In 1935 Schniewind was to be forcibly transferred to Kiel because he had publicly attacked the Gauleiter Erich Koch . However, he was appointed to the theological faculty in Halle , where, among other things, he led the student community together with Ernst Wolf . In March 1937 Schniewind was dismissed from the service and received an official criminal case for standing up for the BK, after which his remuneration was reduced by a fifth as a punishment. Among other things, he initiated a ring event in the summer of 1937 at the theological faculty in Breslau , a stronghold of the German Christians , together with Hans Lokies (mission director), Iwand, Heinrich Vogel , Gerhard Gloege and Waldemar Macholz (practical theologian) on the subject of “The Church in the fight against myth ”. In 1938 he became a professor again (all older literature assumes that he remained exempted until 1945. The University of Halle, on the other hand, gives the opinion presented here from the personnel files, university archives), from 1939 also as a hospital chaplain.

From 1946 he worked as a theologian and as provost of the parish Halle-Merseburg leader in scientific and religious life in Halle and in the Church Province of Saxony with. Schniewind died in 1948. His grave is in the Laurentius cemetery .

theology

Schniewind is considered the most important student of Kähler's, otherwise he was influenced by Hermann Cremer , Adolf Schlatter and Søren Kierkegaard . He understood biblical theology as the word of God that is rooted in the Old Testament (OT). In doing so, he clearly distinguished himself from the liberal-theological positions of Ferdinand Christian Baur to Adolf von Harnack . Schniewind's program of "spiritual renewal" combined a pious faith in Scripture with historical-critical biblical exegesis. The recognition of religious and formal historical results did not prevent Schniewind from emphasizing the claims of Christ's words to people and from understanding the "signs of the times", i.e. National Socialism , as the wrath of God. Like Dietrich Bonhoeffer , Schniewind was of the opinion that Protestantism outside the Confessing Church is a denial of the "truth of the gospel".

Christian and Judaism

A close connection in the understanding of the Old and New Testament was decisive for Schniewind's theology. The writings of the NT are always in the light of the promises revealed in the OT, and thus also its historical and literary premises. As a Christian, Schniewind saw the OT from the point of view of the “Christ event”, that is, in an eschatological light, as the fulfillment of divine promises. It was the task of his time to maintain this twofold line of sight between the two parts of the Bible, which also included research into Judaism . For example, the joy in God's Torah expressed in Psalm 119 excludes any attempt to contrast the OT, and thus Judaism in general, with the NT, as was customary at the time, as the opposition of "law" and "gospel" . Schniewind recognized the "Simchat tora", the joy of God's law in Judaism, as common to both religions. In no case did he want to position Christianity against Judaism. On the contrary, he gave his listeners a deep respect for the Jewish reception of the Torah; B. with the Pharisees and scribes in the NT.

This theology is to be assessed before the mass murder of the European Jews by the Germans, which began at the same time, and about which the Protestant churches were mostly silent.

He reacted negatively to Rudolf Bultmann's demythologizing program and his existentialist interpretation of the Bible, since this weakened the claim of the “Word of the Cross”. As an alternative to Bultmann's concept of mythology, he suggested the interpretation of "mythological" as a "mode of representation", "in which the non-visual appears vivid".

Schniewind was interested in exegesis and pastoral practice. As early as 1925 in Halle he emphasized “the joyful disputation as if there were no age difference, the friendly advice backed by the sympathy of the heart”, that is, the personal in theological. He understood this service as mutual consolation for the faithful. His comments on Markus and Matthew, which appeared in the New Testament German series, which he co-founded , are still widely used today.

Schniewind's estate (in the University and State Library of Saxony-Anhalt , call number Yi 25) also reflects his work as a New Testament scholar and as a pastor for students and pastors.

Fonts

  • 2 works online at archive.org
  • The Gospel according to Markus NTD, Göttingen 1977, digitized
  • On the renewal of the Christian status, 7 lectures, Ed. HJ Kraus, Göttingen 1966, digitized
  • On synoptic exegesis. In: Theologische Rundschau. ThR, New Series NF 2, 1930, pp. 129-189.
  • About the Gospel of John . Lecture from 9./10. Aug. 1939 in Sondershausen. After the Ms. with HJ Kraus, see Lit., 1965/1990, pp. 188–211 (from the Kähler's estate)

Namesake

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Ernst Klee : The dictionary of persons on the Third Reich . Fischer, Frankfurt am Main 2007, pp. 553f. ISBN 978-3-596-16048-8 .
  2. ↑ Kergyma and Mythos 1, 1948, p. 87.

literature

  • Hans-Joachim Kraus: JS (1883-1948) . In: Dietrich Rauschning, Donata von Nerée (ed.): The Albertus University of Königsberg and its professors . Duncker & Humblot, Berlin 1995, ISBN 3-428-08546-9 , pp. 799–810 (Yearbook of the Albertus University of Königsberg / Pr. Volume 29. Extensive bibliography, selection).
  • Hans-Joachim Kraus: JS - Charisma of theology . 2nd Edition. Brunnen, Giessen 1990, ISBN 3-7655-9241-2 (pp. 271-277: complete scientific bibliography up to 1949).
  • Eckhard Lessing: History of the German-speaking Protestant theology from Albrecht Ritschl to the present. Volume II. 1918-1945 . Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, Göttingen 2004, ISBN 3-525-56954-8 , pp. 259-264 .
  • Michael Wolter: Schniewind, Julius Daniel . In: Old Prussian biography . tape V / 2 . Marburg 2007, Sp. 1936-1938 .
  • Katrin Bosse:  Schniewind, Julius. In: New German Biography (NDB). Volume 23, Duncker & Humblot, Berlin 2007, ISBN 978-3-428-11204-3 , p. 323 f. ( Digitized version ).
  • Klaus-Gunther Wesseling:  Schniewind, Julius. In: Biographisch-Bibliographisches Kirchenlexikon (BBKL). Volume 9, Bautz, Herzberg 1995, ISBN 3-88309-058-1 , Sp. 577-581.  ( Article / beginning of article in Internet archive )
  • Rudolf Halver: Julius Schniewind - the professor and pastor , in: Wolfgang Prehn (Hrsg.): Time to walk the narrow path - witnesses report on the church fight in Schleswig-Holstein , Kiel, Lutherische Verlagsgesellschaft, 2nd edition 1985, p. 183 –186 ( ISBN 3-87503-027-3 )

Web links

personal data
SURNAME Schniewind, Julius
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Schniewind, Julius Daniel
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Protestant theologian, Germany
DATE OF BIRTH May 28, 1883
PLACE OF BIRTH Elberfeld
DATE OF DEATH September 7, 1948
Place of death Halle (Saale)